The key takeaways from Content Americas in Miami
The highlights from last week’s Content Americas event in Miami include opportunities for unscripted producers with private investors as well as the booming FAST market in Latin America and the region’s untapped format libraries ripe for for international adaptation.
Brad Sharp
Formats in the frame as investors look for library:
Format owners and rights holders’ ears no doubt pricked up this week when Brad Sharp, senior managing partner at Virtu Global Advisors, explained how investors are increasingly looking to buy up content libraries for the “stable and growing cashflows” that they generate.
This is not only taking place in scripted but also in unscripted, where advertiser-friendly formats are becoming a must-have amid a streaming landscape that has gone headfirst into advertising.
“We’re seeing a lot of aggregation in bulk, lower-quality content because there’s really interesting opportunities with smart distribution to monetise that through AVoD and alternative platforms in a measured way – as long as the investment point makes sense,” said Sharp.
“So they’re not buying these things at really high valuations – they’re buying at low valuations and then are willing to share the upside potentially with the creators or with the owners.”
Maria Rua Aguete
Projected growth for Lat Am’s FAST sector could mean new monetisation opportunities:
Latin America is projected to be one of the fastest growing markets for free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) over the next five years, a fact that will undoubtedly create additional opportunities both for local rightsholders and for those selling formats into the region from outside.
According to Omdia data shared by head of media and entertainment Maria Rua Aguete, Lat Am FAST revenues will grow from US$231m in 2023 to US$569m by 2029. A large portion of that growth will come from the Brazilian market, where FAST revenues are projected to grow to US$303m by 2029, making it the third biggest FAST market in the world behind the US and UK.
Mexico is also expected to see major FAST growth over the next five years, with revenue jumping from around US$75m in 2024 to US$163m by 2029. FAST revenues in Spain will also climb from around US$25m in 2024 to US$61m in 2029.
Paul Presburger
The remake business is harder than ever but still healthy:
While Latin America, like every region, continues to feel the aftershock of an abrupt pullback in commissioning from international streaming players, scripted remakes are still doing solid business across the region according to Miércoles Entertainment Studios CEO Paul Presburger.
During his time as CEO of US Hispanic streamer Pantaya, which was acquired by ViX in 2022, Presburger worked on an adaptation of the classic French adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo starring Cuban-American actor William Gutiérrez-Levy.
The project worked across Mexico, US Hispanic and Spain, according to Presburger, in large part because of Gutiérrez-Levy’s star power. However, he said that finding projects that work across those three markets is harder than ever.
That is why many are choosing to lean on the tried-and-true remake business, which can still produce hits that can be adapted across the region. Miércoles Entertainment Studios has been remaking Argentinian movies in Mexico, with Presburger noting that despite the cultural differences, the stories resonate across both markets.
He cited the 2013 Mexican comedy-drama No se aceptan devoluciones (Instructions Not Included), starring Eugenio Derbez, as an example of a Latin American story that has continued to be adapted globally, with around 10 remakes to date.
The film, about a Mexican playboy who heads off to LA after he is saddled with a child born after a one-night stand, has been adapted in countries including France, the Philippines and most recently Spain.
“What that shows you, from the remake business that we do, is that when you can localise something and bring in the culture and sensibilities and make it more relevant for that audience, it still works,” said Presburger.
Lat Am-originated formats not being adapted by global streamers
Original formats created in Latin America are not currently being remade by major streamers, according to Ampere Analysis. That is true both in the sense that Lat Am-made formats are not being commissioned in other countries in the region, or elsewhere in the world.
For example, in North America, 87% of format commissions in 2024 were for homegrown formats, with 9% for western European formats and 4% for formats originating in Asia Pacific (APAC). In western Europe, 45% were homegrown, 40% were from the US and 15% from APAC. In APAC, 83% were homegrown, 25% from western Europe and 13% from the US.
In those territories, none of the major streamers commissioned a single format that had originated in Lat Am, according to Ampere. In addition, in Lat Am, 50% of the format commissions came from APAC-originating formats, 33% from the US, 17% from western Europe and 0% were originated in the Lat Am region.
Ampere also said that the major streamers’ overriding strategy involves exploring new formats in the US and APAC, before then looking to export those formats to western Europe and Lat Am.
